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Ryan Hollweg
Ryan Hollweg is a professional hockey player playing with the Toronto Maple Leafs of the National Hockey League. Career As the son of a Brazilian father of German descent and Canadian mother, Hollweg chose hockey over soccer. Even as a young boy, he assumed that someday he would be a professional hockey player. His mother would drive him to neighboring cities to attend hockey clinics. He left his hometown of Downey, California at 14 to play junior hockey in British Columbia, and was impressive in scoring 54 points in 58 games in 1998–99 for the Langley Hornets of the British Columbia Hockey League. In 1999, he was drafted first overall by the Medicine Hat Tigers of the Western Hockey League. There, he was known as both a scorer and an enforcer, even winning Player of the Week honors twice in his four seasons. The 5'11" 207-pound forward was drafted by the New York Rangers in the eighth round (238th overall) of the 2001 NHL Entry Draft. Current Rangers coach Tom Renney, who was director of player personnel at the time, stated that although he had doubted about Hollweg's small size, his heart was the difference. Continuing to play with the Tigers in the WHL, Hollweg missed most of the 2002-03 due to a severe concussion, but bounced back to score 57 points in 2003-04. He spent the 2004-05 season with the Hartford Wolf Pack of the American Hockey League, and amassed 239 penalty minutes while earning a reputation as a gritty forechecker and occasional fighter. He didn't make the New York Rangers team at training camp in 2005, but in November, after 7 games in Hartford, Hollweg was called up to the team, where he was part of the forechecking fourth line with Blair Betts and Colton Orr. On March 8, 2007, at 13:25 of the third period of a game between the Rangers and the New York Islanders, Hollweg delivered a check on Chris Simon, sending the sizeable forward into the boards head-first. After recovering, Simon proceeded to intentionally hit Hollweg in the jaw with his stick. Hollweg later recovered and left the ice under his own power. He received two stitches on his chin and returned to the game later in the third period. Subsequently, Simon was assessed a 25 game suspension for his actions. On January 10, 2008, Hollweg had the first two goal game of his career against the Philadelphia Flyers at Madison Square Garden. He scored his first goal of the 2007–2008 season at 4:43 of the first period and added his second goal at 7:42 of the same period. Hollweg hadn't scored a goal since February 9, 2007. On February 3, 2008, Hollweg was assessed a five minute penalty and ejected from a game against the Montreal Canadiens after intentionally checking left wing Kostitsyn head first into the boards. The incident occurred after Hollweg was hit with an elbow by Canadiens forward Alexei Kovalev, which was missed by referees. On July 14, 2008, Hollweg was acquired by the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for a fifth round pick in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft. On October 6, 2008, Hollweg was suspended by the NHL for 2 games for being assessed a boarding major in a pre-season game against the St. Louis Blues. Because he had two boarding majors the season prior, there is a provision for an automatic two-game suspension as a result of the accumulation. On October 13th, 2008, in his first game back from the previous suspension, Hollweg was issued a five-minute major penalty for boarding followed by a game misconduct after checking Blues defenceman Alex Pietrangelo into the boards from behind early in the second period. Done while the Leafs were ahead 3-1, the play was seen as a momentum-breaker. The Blues scored twice on the ensuing powerplay and eventually won in the shootout, 5-4. Spectators were heard booing the hit and cheering Hollweg's ejection. Career Statistics Category:Players Category:Left Wingers Category:American-born Players